he got taxes increased by over $600 billion. the republicans have at least begun to back off on the debt ceiling fight. you note that sandy aid passed even though it only got 46 republican votes in the house. it seems to me this strategy of laying out what you want and then negotiating is better than trying to figure out what the other side wants. >> chairman steel, there's been some discussion as to whether this was even, many of the, that progressive of a speech, but the reaction from conservative outlets -- >> oh, baby, it was. >> i have been waiting for the real barack obama to show up, and i don't mean that as a criticism. i mean that honestly. knowing him as i have come to know him over the years, going back to when he first came to washington as a senator, that's the guy that i as chairman was prepared to do battle against and framed my chairmanship and even wrote a book about how to defeat this agenda, this very progressive agenda for conservatives to wake up coming out of the slumps of 2006 and 2008. >> can i say one th